Page:A wandering student in the Far East vol.1 - Zetland.djvu/254

190 the south. The bulk of the foreign goods that reach Yün-nan Fu already come through Indo-China viâ Lao-kai on the frontier and Mêng-tzŭ, though a certain proportion travels viâ the Yang-tsze and Sui Fu, and in one shop I found piece-goods which had come across from Burma viâ Tali Fu. Very little merchandise, however, reaches Yün-nan Fu from Burma at the present time. Cheap black Italians and figured lastings were on view, as well as the ordinary grey shirting, and were said to have a fair sale. Cheap furniture prints were also in stock. But it is cotton yarn that provides the chief importation from abroad, Indian, and latterly Tonkingese, yarn being readily purchased and woven by the people into a strong coarse cloth known as yang-sha-pu. According to the late Mr Litton, by whose sudden death while travelling near T'eng Yüeh in 1895 his country sustained a wellnigh irreparable loss, the great centre of the local weaving industry is the Hsin Hsing valley, three days south of Yün-nan Fu, where 40,000 piculs of yarn are disposed of annually. My experience goes to show that